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Matthias Neubert

Publications and source records attributed to Matthias Neubert.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

The "forgotten" decay S -> Z+h as a CP analyzer

Scalar particles $S$ which are gauge singlets under the Standard Model are generic features of many models of fundamental physics, in particular as possible mediators to a hidden or dark sector. We show that the decay $S\to Zh$ provides a powerful probe of the CP nature of the scalar, because it is allowed only if $S$ has CP-odd interactions. We perform a model-independent analysis of this decay in the context of an effective Lagrangian and compute the relevant Wilson coefficients arising from integrating out heavy fermions to one-loop order. We illustrate our findings with the example of the 750 GeV diphoton resonance seen by ATLAS and CMS and show that the $S\to Zh$ decay rate could naturally be of similar magnitude or larger than the diphoton rate.

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Flavor Anomalies, the Diphoton Excess and a Dark Matter Candidate

We argue that the diphoton excess recently reported by ATLAS and CMS can be explained, along with several anomalies seen in the flavor sector, in models where a Standard-Model singlet scalar resonance with mass $M \approx 750$ GeV is produced in gluon fusion via loops containing a scalar color- triplet leptoquark $ϕ$. For a leptoquark mass $M_ϕ\lesssim$ 1 TeV, the production cross section is naturally in the 10 fb range. A large $S \to γγ$ branching ratio can be obtained by coupling the scalar S to new color-singlet fermions $χ$ with electroweak scale masses, which can be part of an $SU(2)_L$ multiplet, whose neutral component has the right mass and quantum numbers to be a dark matter candidate. Our model reveals a connection between flavor anomalies, the nature of dark matter and a new scalar, which acts as a mediator to the dark sector. The loop-mediated decay $S \to τ^+τ^-$ could be a striking signature of this model.

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An Effective Field Theory for Jet Processes

Processes involving narrow jets receive perturbative corrections enhanced by logarithms of the jet opening angle and the ratio of the energies inside and outside the jets. Analyzing cone-jet processes in effective field theory, we find that in addition to soft and collinear fields their description requires degrees of freedom which are simultaneously soft and collinear to the jets. These collinear-soft particles can resolve individual collinear partons, leading to a complicated multi-Wilson-line structure of the associated operators at higher orders. Our effective field theory provides, for the first time, a factorization formula for a cone-jet process, which fully separates the physics at different energy scales. Its renormalization-group equations control all logarithmically enhanced higher-order terms, in particular also the non-global logarithms.

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Impact of Warped Extra Dimensions on the Dipole Coefficients in $\boldsymbol{b\to sγ}$ Transitions

We calculate the electro- and chromomagnetic dipole coefficients $C_{7γ,8g}$ and $\tilde C_{7γ,8g}$ in the context of the minimal Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with a Higgs sector localized on the IR brane using the five-dimensional (5D) approach, where the coefficients are expressed in terms of integrals over 5D propagators. Since we keep the full dependence on the Yukawa matrices, the integral expressions are formally valid to all orders in $v^2/M_{\rm KK}^2$. In addition we relate our results to the expressions obtained in the Kaluza-Klein (KK) decomposed theory and show the consistency in both pictures analytically and numerically, which presents a non-trivial cross-check. In Feynman-'t Hooft gauge, the dominant corrections from virtual KK modes arise from the scalar parts of the $W^\pm$-boson penguin diagrams, including the contributions from the scalar component of the 5D gauge-boson field and from the charged Goldstone bosons in the Higgs sector. The size of the KK corrections depends on the parameter $y_\ast$, which sets the upper bound for the anarchic 5D Yukawa matrices. We find that for $y_\ast\gtrsim1$ the dominant KK corrections are proportional to $y_\ast^2$. We discuss the phenomenological implications of our results for the branching ratio ${\rm Br}(\bar B\to X_sγ)$, the time-dependent CP asymmetry $S_{K^*γ}$, the direct CP asymmetry $A_{\rm CP}^{b\to sγ}$ and the CP asymmetry difference $ΔA_{\rm CP}^{b\to sγ}$. We can derive a lower bound on the first KK gluon resonance of $3.8\,$TeV for $y_\ast=3$, requiring that at least $10\%$ of the RS parameter space covers the experimental $2σ$ error margins. We further discuss the branching ratio ${\rm Br}(\bar B\to X_sl^+l^-)$ and compare our predictions for $C_{7γ,9,10}$ and $\tilde C_{7γ,9,10}$ with phenomenological results derived from model-independent analyses.

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One Leptoquark to Rule Them All: A Minimal Explanation for $R_{D^{(*)}}$, $R_K$ and $(g-2)_μ$

We show that by adding a single new scalar particle to the Standard Model, a TeV-scale leptoquark with the quantum numbers of a right-handed down quark, one can explain in a natural way three of the most striking anomalies of particle physics: the violation of lepton universality in $\bar B\to\bar K\ell^+\ell^-$ decays, the enhanced $\bar B\to D^{(*)}τ\barν$ decay rates, and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Constraints from other precision measurements in the flavor sector can be satisfied without fine-tuning. Our model predicts enhanced $\bar B\to\bar K^{(*)}ν\barν$ decay rates and a new-physics contribution to $B_s\!-\!\bar B_s$ mixing close to the current central fit value.

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Exclusive Radiative Higgs Decays as Probes of Light-Quark Yukawa Couplings

We present a detailed analysis of the rare exclusive Higgs-boson decays into a single vector meson and a photon and investigate the possibility of using these processes to probe the light-quark Yukawa couplings. We work with an effective Lagrangian with modified Higgs couplings to account for possible new-physics effects in a model-independent way. The h->Vγ decay rate is governed by the destructive interference of two amplitudes, one of which involves the Higgs coupling to the quark anti-quark pair inside the vector meson. We derive this amplitude at next-to-leading order in α_s using QCD factorization, including the resummation of large logarithmic corrections and accounting for the effects of flavor mixing. The high factorization scale μ~m_h ensures that our results are rather insensitive to the hadronic parameters characterizing the light-cone distribution amplitude of the vector meson. The second amplitude arises from the loop-induced effective hγγ* and hγZ* couplings, where the off-shell gauge boson converts into the vector meson. We devise a strategy to eliminate theoretical uncertainties related to this amplitude to almost arbitrary precision. This opens up the possibility to probe for O(1) modifications of the c- and b-quark Yukawa couplings and O(30) modifications of the s-quark Yukawa coupling in the high-luminosity LHC run. In particular, we show that measurements of the ratios Br(h->Υ(nS)γ)/Br(h->γγ) and Br(h->bb)/Br(h->γγ) can provide complementary information on the real and imaginary parts of the b-quark Yukawa coupling. More accurate measurements would be possible at a future 100 TeV proton-proton collider.

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Exclusive Radiative Z-Boson Decays to Mesons with Flavor-Singlet Components

We present a detailed study of the exclusive radiative decays $Z\toη^{(\prime)}γ$ employing the QCD factorization approach. We derive a factorization formula for the decay amplitudes valid at leading power in an expansion in $(Λ_{QCD}/m_Z)^2$, which includes convolutions of calculable hard-scattering kernels with the leading-twist quark and gluon light-cone distribution amplitudes of the mesons. Large logarithms arising in the evolution from the high scale $m_Z$ down to hadronic scales are resummed using the renormalization group, carefully accounting for the effects of the heavy bottom and charm quarks. Our results for the branching ratios are very sensitive to hadronic input parameters, such as the decay constants and mixing angle characterizing the $η-η'$ system. Using the most recent estimates of these parameters, we obtain the branching ratios $Br(Z\toηγ)\sim 1.6\cdot 10^{-10}$ and $Br(Z\toη'γ)\sim 4.7\cdot 10^{-9}$. A measurement of these processes at a future high-luminosity Z factory could provide interesting information on the gluon distribution amplitude.

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Dipole operator constraints on composite Higgs models

Flavour- and CP-violating electromagnetic or chromomagnetic dipole operators in the quark sector are generated in a large class of new physics models and are strongly constrained by measurements of the neutron electric dipole moment and observables sensitive to flavour-changing neutral currents, such as the $B\to X_sγ$ branching ratio and $ε'/ε$. After a model-independent discussion of the relevant constraints, we analyze these effects in models with partial compositeness, where the quarks get their masses by mixing with vector-like composite fermions. These scenarios can be seen as the low-energy limit of composite Higgs or warped extra dimensional models. We study different choices for the electroweak representations of the composite fermions motivated by electroweak precision tests as well as different flavour structures, including flavour anarchy and $U(3)^3$ or $U(2)^3$ flavour symmetries in the strong sector. In models with "wrong-chirality" Yukawa couplings, we find a strong bound from the neutron electric dipole moment, irrespective of the flavour structure. In the case of flavour anarchy, we also find strong bounds from flavour-violating dipoles, while these constraints are mild in the flavour-symmetric models.

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Higher-Order QCD Predictions for Dark Matter Production in Mono-$Z$ Searches at the LHC

We present theoretical predictions for mono-$Z$ production in the search for dark matter in Run-II at the LHC, including next-to-leading order QCD corrections and parton-shower effects. We consider generic simplified models with vector and scalar $s$-channel mediators. The calculation is performed by implementing the simplified models in the FeynRules/MadGraph5_aMC@NLO framework, which allows us to include higher-order QCD corrections and parton-shower effects in an automated way. We find that these corrections are sizeable and help to reduce the theoretical uncertainties. We also investigate the discovery potential in several benchmark scenarios in the 13 TeV run at the LHC.

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Flavour, Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Dark Matter: state of the art and future prospects

With the discovery of the Higgs boson the Standard Model has become a complete and comprehensive theory, which has been verified with unparalleled precision and in principle might be valid at all scales. However, several reasons remain why we firmly believe that there should be physics beyond the Standard Model. Experiments such as the LHC, new $B$ factories, and earth- and space-based astro-particle experiments provide us with unique opportunities to discover a coherent framework for many of the long-standing puzzles of our field. Here we explore several significant interconnections between the physics of the Higgs boson, the physics of flavour, and the experimental clues we have about dark matter.

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Exclusive Radiative Decays of W and Z Bosons in QCD Factorization

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of very rare, exclusive hadronic decays of the electroweak gauge bosons V=W, Z from first principles of QCD. Our main focus is on the radiative decays V->M+gamma, in which M is a pseudoscalar or vector meson. At leading order in an expansion in powers of Lambda_{QCD}/m_V the decay amplitudes can be factorized into convolutions of calculable hard-scattering coefficients with the leading-twist light-cone distribution amplitude of the meson M. Power corrections to the decay rates arise first at order (Lambda_{QCD}/m_V)^2. They can be estimated in terms of higher-twist distribution amplitudes and are predicted to be tiny. We include one-loop O(alpha_s) radiative corrections to the hard-scattering coefficients and perform the resummation of large logarithms [alpha_s log(m_V^2/mu_0^2)]^n (with mu_0=1 GeV a typical hadronic scale) to all orders in perturbation theory. Evolution effects have an important impact both numerically and conceptually, since they reduce the sensitivity to poorly determined hadronic parameters. We present detailed numerical predictions and error estimates, which can serve as benchmarks for future precision measurements. We also present an exploratory study of the weak radiative decays Z->M+W. Some of the decay modes studied here have branching ratios large enough to be accessible in the high-luminosity run of the LHC. Many of them can be measured with high accuracy at a future lepton collider. This will provide stringent tests of the QCD factorization formalism and enable novel searches for new physics.

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Automated NNLL+NLO Resummation for Jet-Veto Cross Sections

In electroweak-boson production processes with a jet veto, higher-order corrections are enhanced by logarithms of the veto scale over the invariant mass of the boson system. In this paper, we resum these Sudakov logarithms at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy and match our predictions to next-to-leading order (NLO) fixed-order results. We perform the calculation in an automated way, for arbitrary electroweak final states and in the presence of kinematic cuts on the leptons produced in the decays of the electroweak bosons. The resummation is based on a factorization theorem for the cross sections into hard functions, which encode the virtual corrections to the boson production process, and beam functions, which describe the low-p_T emissions collinear to the beams. The one-loop hard functions for arbitrary processes are calculated using the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO framework, while the beam functions are process independent. We perform the resummation for a variety of processes, in particular for W+W- pair production followed by leptonic decays of the W bosons.

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Higgs Production and Decay in Models of a Warped Extra Dimension with a Bulk Higgs

Warped extra-dimension models in which the Higgs boson is allowed to propagate in the bulk of a compact AdS$_5$ space are conjectured to be dual to models featuring a partially composite Higgs boson. They offer a framework with which to investigate the implications of changing the scaling dimension of the Higgs operator, which can be used to reduce the constraints from electroweak precision data. In the context of such models, we calculate the cross section for Higgs production in gluon fusion and the $H\toγγ$ decay rate and show that they are finite (at one-loop order) as a consequence of gauge invariance. The extended scalar sector comprising the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the Standard Model scalars is constructed in detail. The largest effects are due to virtual KK fermions, whose contributions to the cross section and decay rate introduce a quadratic sensitivity to the maximum allowed value $y_\ast$ of the random complex entries of the 5D anarchic Yukawa matrices. We find an enhancement of the gluon-fusion cross section and a reduction of the $H\toγγ$ rate as well as of the tree-level Higgs couplings to fermions and electroweak gauge bosons. We perform a detailed study of the correlated signal strengths for different production mechanisms and decay channels as functions of $y_\ast$, the mass scale of Kaluza-Klein resonances and the scaling dimension of the composite Higgs operator.

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Higgs Couplings and Phenomenology in a Warped Extra Dimension

We present a comprehensive description of the Higgs-boson couplings to Standard Model fermions and bosons in Randall-Sundrum (RS) models with a Higgs sector localized on or near the infra-red brane. The analytic results for all relevant Higgs couplings including the loop-induced couplings to gluons and photons are summarized for both the minimal and the custodial RS model. The RS predictions for all relevant Higgs decays are compared with current LHC data, which already exclude significant portions of the parameter space. We show that the latest measurements are sensitive to KK gluon masses up to $20\, \rm{TeV} \times (y_*/3)$ at $95\%$ confidence level for anarchic 5D Yukawa couplings bounded from above by $|(Y_f)_{ij}| < y_*$. We also derive the sensitivity levels attainable in the high-luminosity run of the LHC and at a future linear collider.

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Renormalization-Group Improved Prediction for Higgs Production at Hadron Colliders

We use renormalization-group methods in effective field theory to improve the theoretical prediction for the cross section for Higgs-boson production at hadron colliders. In addition to soft-gluon resummation at NNNLL, we also resum enhanced contributions of the form (C_Aπα_s)^n, which arise in the analytic continuation of the gluon form factor to time-like momentum transfer. This resummation is achieved by evaluating the matching corrections arising at the Higgs-boson mass scale at a time-like renormalization point μ^2<0, followed by renormalization-group evolution to μ^2>0. We match our resummed result to NNLO fixed-order perturbation theory and give numerical predictions for the total production cross section as a function of the Higgs-boson mass. Resummation effects are significant even at NNLO, where our improved predictions for the cross sections at the Tevatron and the LHC exceed the fixed-order predictions by about 13% and 8%, respectively, for m_H=120 GeV. We also discuss the application of our technique to other time-like processes such as Drell-Yan production, e^+ e^- --> hadrons, and hadronic decays of the Higgs boson.

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Higgs Decay into Two Photons at the Boundary of a Warped Extra Dimension

A detailed five-dimensional calculation of the Higgs-boson decay into two photons is performed in both the minimal and the custodially protected Randall-Sundrum (RS) model, where the Standard Model (SM) fields propagate in the bulk and the scalar sector lives on or near the IR brane. It is explicitly shown that the $R_ξ$ gauge invariance of the sum of diagrams involving bosonic fields in the SM also applies to the case of these RS scenarios. An exact expression for the $h\toγγ$ amplitude in terms of the five-dimensional (5D) gauge-boson and fermion propagators is presented, which includes the full dependence on the Higgs-boson mass. Closed expressions for the 5D $W$-boson propagators in the minimal and the custodial RS model are derived, which are valid to all orders in $v^2/M_\textrm{KK}^2$. In contrast to the fermion case, the result for the bosonic contributions to the $h\toγγ$ amplitude is insensitive to the details of the localization of the Higgs profile on or near the IR brane. The various RS predictions for the rate of the $pp\to h\toγγ$ process are compared with the latest LHC data, and exclusion regions for the RS model parameters are derived.

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5D Perspective on Higgs Production at the Boundary of a Warped Extra Dimension

A comprehensive, five-dimensional calculation of Higgs-boson production in gluon fusion is performed for both the minimal and the custodially protected Randall-Sundrum (RS) model, with Standard Model fields propagating in the bulk and the scalar sector confined on or near the IR brane. For the first time, an exact expression for the gg->h amplitude in terms of the five-dimensional fermion propagator is derived, which includes the full dependence on the Higgs-boson mass. Various results in the literature are reconciled and shown to correspond to different incarnations of the RS model, in which the Higgs field is either localized on the IR brane or is described in terms of a narrow bulk state. The results in the two scenarios differ in a qualitative way: the gg->h amplitude is suppressed in models where the scalar sector is localized on the IR brane, while it tends to be enhanced in bulk Higgs models. In both cases, effects of higher-dimensional operators contributing to the gg->h amplitude at tree level are shown to be numerically suppressed under reasonable assumptions. There is no smooth cross-over between the two scenarios, since the effective field-theory description breaks down in the transition region. A detailed phenomenological analysis of Higgs production in various RS scenarios is presented, and for each scenario the regions of parameter space already excluded by LHC data are derived.

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Approximate NNLO Predictions for the Stop-Pair Production Cross Section at the LHC

If the minimal supersymmetric standard model at scales of around 1 TeV is realized in nature, the total top-squark pair production cross section should be measurable at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In this work we present precise predictions for this observable, which are based upon approximate NNLO formulas obtained using soft-collinear effective theory methods.

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